Senior Dual Diagnosis Practitioner

Posting date:	18 September 2025
Salary:	£64,156.00 to £71,148.00 per year
Additional salary information:	£64156.00 - £71148.00 a year
Hours:	Full time
Closing date:	02 October 2025
Location:	London, SW9 9NU
Company:	NHS Jobs
Job type:	Contract
Job reference:	C9334-25-0934

Summary

Clinical and Client Care To provide clinical expertise and support in assessment, care/treatment and discharge planning and the evaluation of interventions to people with co-occurring mental illness and substance misuse conditions To implement pathway systems that ensure all service users are being assessed for alcohol and drug use as part of a comprehensive assessment and information is recorded using the appropriate tools and in line with local and national standards To promote the involvement of all relevant stakeholders in assessment, care and discharge processes by facilitating their participation in all relevant forums To ensure that all service users are offered health education information, information about local substance misuse services and self-help/mutual aid groups to enable them to make informed choices about their ongoing care/treatment Contributing to team or service clinical functioning Lead development of, and support liaison with, GPs and substance misuse services to promote effective joint planning and transfer of care when appropriate Facilitate carers/family members involvement in assessment and care planning where appropriate and ensure they are offered information about substance misuse support groups Work closely with team based dual diagnosis champions where available, to promote the implementation of best practice standards. Provide necessary support in the review of serious incidents where substance use plays a role. Policy and service development To contribute to the development of services through initiating, undertaking and supervising service evaluation and audit, and supporting teams to use findings to inform development To use DATIX effectively and support teams to develop skills in this area to enhance data collection and up to date reporting of incidents relating to substance misuse To keep updated with policy and practice developments in substance misuse, mental health and dual diagnosis and to disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles To implement policies and procedures in own area of work, and to propose improvements or beneficial changes. To contribute to service development through participating in the appropriate projects. To contribute to the consultation and engagement of service users in planning and delivering services which meet the needs of local communities. Care or management of resources To take care of, and use carefully, the Trusts equipment and physical resources. To ensure that the post-holder has sufficient resources by estimating future needs and requesting or ordering supplies as needed. Management, supervision and communication To contribute to the appraisal of more junior colleagues, as appropriate. To contribute to the recruitment of more junior colleagues, as appropriate. Communicate regularly with partner agencies involved in the treatment of people with dual diagnosis. This will involves the establishment of relationships with other agencies that provide substance misuse treatment, acute physical health care, housing, education, and employment. Maintain regular contact with substance misuse services to keep abreast of developments and to promote information sharing and joint care planning and seamless care pathways Facilitate integrated working, ensuring good communication and coordination of care so that decisions concerning patients care are jointly made as often as possible. Attend local Dual Diagnosis and police liaison and site management meetings when required Meet with other dual diagnosis practitioners and senior dual diagnosis staff to share intelligence, learning and to develop innovations. Prepare reports and presentations for relevant meetings as required. To skilfully and sensitively communicate highly complex and sensitive information with patients, carers and colleagues To maintain regular contact with substance misuse services to promote information sharing and joint care planning and seamless care pathways To communicate regularly with Consultant Nurses Dual diagnosis and other dual diagnosis leads and also keep abreast of developments in local substance misuse services Teaching and Training To act as a dual diagnosis resource for services, accessing and disseminating up to date information on guidance, research/audit and promoting implementation of same. To identify individual and team training needs and design and deliver bespoke dual diagnosis training for individuals and teams To contribute to the design and delivery of SLP wide dual diagnosis training and provide post-training support and supervision To support teams to deliver on key areas such as CQUINs and other service improvement efforts To contribute to the engagement of service users in the planning and developing services. Record-keeping and Information Governance To ensure that all information generated by own work is recorded as required by Trust policies and local procedures To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping and report writing, according to professional and Trust guidelines, including electronic data entry. Research and development To contribute to the development of services through initiating, undertaking and supervising service evaluation and audit, and supporting teams to use findings to inform developments. To provide research advice and supervision to other staff undertaking research To use DATIX effectively and support teams to develop skills in this area to enhance data collection and up to date reporting of incidents relating to substance misuse To keep up-to-date with policy and practice developments in substance misuse, mental health and dual diagnosis and to disseminate research and service evaluation findings through presentations and published articles To ensure that services provided are acceptable and accessible to the diverse communities that make up the local population. Maintaining professional standards and continuing professional development To ensure that own continuing professional development is in line with professional registration requirements and Trust PDP and appraisal frameworks. To maintain appropriate documentation to comply with professional registration. To manage own time independently and effectively and follow a model of reflective practice, questioning and assessing own performance and reviewing with clinical supervisor To receive regular clinical and professional supervision from senior professional leads according to the statutory regulation requirements of that profession and Trust with both Trusts Supervision and Appraisal Policies. General To travel to sites across the organisation as appropriate and across the Trust when required. To be aware of risk relating to aggressive and challenging behaviour amongst the client group, and follow trust policies relating to its management. To respond appropriately and professionally to emotionally distressing situations; challenging behaviour from patients as well as disclosure of distressing life events and to support others involved in such situation To work flexibly within the job plan to fulfill the needs of the Trust